Human and nonhuman abolitionist movements, despite their similarities, remain two distinct movements, each with unique social, political, economic, and historical circumstances.
Open rescues, although exciting and heroic, unfortunately maintain the system as it is. This tactic therefore protects the interests of conservative foundations that maintain most grant monies. Open rescues also give non-profits something to write about and fund-raise behind.
Can analogies be helpful for advancing anti-speciesism? Sometimes. Capitalizing on rape culture to scare women into compliance is cruel, however. I cannot imagine how that would be psychologically persuasive, only traumatizing.
The Role of Scientific Claimsmaking in a Rationalized Movementscape One of the defining features of the 21st-century Nonhuman Animal rights movement is its move to increase rationalization. This is a process that prioritizes efficacy, control,Continue reading
Vegan activists typically position speciesism as a matter of supply and demand, yet elite control over both our food supply and our government makes “voting with your dollar” a relatively impotent tactic. The problem isContinue reading
In my review of For the Wild: Ritual and Commitment in Radical Eco-Activism in the peer-reviewed journal Social Movement Studies, I consider the appropriateness of author Sarah Pike's argument that religiosity motivates radical anti-speciesism. AlthoughContinue reading
Cognitive Priming for Positive Outcomes Cognitive priming refers to the process of manipulating an audience's interpretation of information. Professors, for instance, might make subtle hints to their students about positive experiences in the classroom hopingContinue reading
What is the Illusion of Transparency? The illusion of transparency refers to the mistaken assumption that others can read our internal states quite easily. Humans, as social animals, are quite good at reading the bodyContinue reading
Social psychological research conducted in the 1970s finds that children exposed to prosocial programs like Sesame Street significantly increased their prosocial behaviors. This was especially true of those children with low baseline prosocial tendencies (CoatesContinue reading
Frequently, social psychological research refutes what we take to be common sense when it comes to behavioral motivation and attitude formation. This is certainly the case with presentation vividness. Although it is easy to assumeContinue reading
